When Odyssey co-editors Angel Winchester and Allie Hartman opened the application for submissions to the Honors College’s literary and art magazine, they hoped to get 50-75 submissions; instead, they received a staggering 215 submissions from Ball State students--a record number for the publication. Keep reading to learn how they reacted and how they chose which pieces would make it into the magazine, which will be published later this month.

Odyssey co-editors Angel and Allie were able to facilitate a record 215 Odyssey submissions through creative marketing and restructuring.

Odyssey co-editors Angel Winchester and Allie Hartman said that they had high hopes for this year’s edition of Odyssey, the Honors College’s literary and arts magazine which features pieces from Ball State Honors students.

“[The submissions] trickled in slowly at first, so we weren't quite sure what to expect,” Hartman said. “The submissions continued to flow in, and I remember Angel and I going back and forth guessing what our total number would be. She guessed 100, I believe, and I was optimistically hoping for 125. I knew we'd have a rush of submissions the last day or so, but we were not prepared for just how many we'd get. I was partly shocked when we clocked in at over 200, but most of me was just proud of us.”

​For Winchester, making changes to the magazine itself was an essential factor in pulling in submissions this year. Along with changes to the design of the magazine, Winchester and Hartman also agreed to forgo a theme in order to capture a larger group of student artists.

“When talking to other Honors students about Odyssey, many said that they didn’t submit to past issues because they weren’t sure if their art was good enough or if it fit the theme. So for this year’s issue, Allie and I tried to be very transparent with our artists about the submissions and review process. We chose not to have a theme this year and told students to submit as many things as they wished,” Winchester said.

Along with Winchester and Hartman’s efforts to promote the magazine through e-mail blasts and fliers, they say that Honors College Dean Dr. John Emert excitedly talked to students about Odysseyas well—especially to the freshman class. Winchester speculates that this is the reason they received most of their submission from first-year students.

“In the future, I'd love to see a more even spread of submissions from different grade levels, but I'm glad so many freshmen are getting involved and putting their work out there early on,” Hartman said.

​With so many submissions to choose from, the editing team had to make a plan in order to make decisions in a fair way. They formed a committee consisting of a variety of majors in order to make the process more fair. With input from English, classical cultures, art, and computer science majors, they decided on the 104 pieces that readers will get to see in the upcoming issue. Hartman said that while many of the pieces were decided on unanimously, there were some heated debates within the committee on a few of the submissions.

“The process of selecting which pieces to publish was honestly the most challenging part of the entire project. We had so many incredible submissions, but we knew there was no way we could include all of them,” Hartman said.

Sophomore Ben Sapet, who worked as part of the review board, says that he was surprised by the personal nature of the art submitted by students.

“Many of the submissions were almost startlingly open about very personal issues. This may speak to the therapeutic nature of creating. Whether those very personal submissions were included or not, we were impressed at their emotional honesty, and we were glad to have provided a destination for those feelings and the art they’re bound up in,” Sapet said.

​These student creations took many different forms, including sculptures, woodcut prints, poetry, short stories, and paintings. The medium of some submissions could not be incorporated into the magazine, but the co-editors still found a way for these types of pieces to be represented.

“We did receive a few video submissions too. While Odysseyis not quite ready to include multimedia into our printed magazine, we are going to publish the scripts,” Winchester says.

As they prepare for Odyssey’s publication in late April, Winchester and Hartman remain optimistic about the future of the magazine.

“I think that if future editors are dedicated and actively engaging the Honors community to promote the magazine, that the large number of submissions could be a regular occurrence. But you can’t just sit back and wait for them to roll in, you have to work for it,” Winchester said.

This week, in the latest Honors College Lecture Series, Dr. Obed Frausto presented research from the first chapter of his upcoming book. The lecture series, which is in its third semester, is becoming a staple of Honors College tradition and academic inquiry.

Frausto’s lecture, titled Plural Democracy and the Foreigner, interrogated dominant structures in the United States, such as the “melting pot” narrative, white democracy and tyranny, belief in the “American Dream,” and notions of cultural recognition and citizenship in the States.

A graduate of and former professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, Dr. Frausto said that he has always been interested in the dichotomous term “foreigner.” This term became increasingly important to him in the midst of the 2016 election, with President Trump’s anti-Mexican rhetoric and the racial profiling he had personally experienced.

“I remember walking to my Airbnb from a conference in Lexington, and I had my hands in my pockets—it was November, and I was cold—and someone shouted from their car, ‘Hey, get your hands out of your pockets!’ I realized I had been profiled, that they thought I had—I don’t know—a weapon, or something? That’s always stuck with me,” Frausto said.

Frausto began with the myth of the melting pot, presenting a literature review of the historical critique of the term. The first critique came in 1915 from author Horace Kallen in their text “Democracy Versus the Melting Pot.” In this text, Kallen argues that “melting pot” narratives allow policy makers to ignore racial injustice, negate diversity and cultural pluralism, and that assimilation harms foreigners, denying them their language, traditions, cultures, and identities.

Another topic was white democracy and white tyranny. Frausto framed this section of the lecture through Alexis de Tocqueville’s text Democracy in America. de Tocqueville, a prominent French thinker who visited the United States to study its prison systems, asserts that there are numerous glaring contradictions in the United States between democratic and egalitarian values. The consequences of this, then, are that Native Americans, Black citizens, and other racial minorities are not represented by “U.S. democracy”. Instead, democracy represents the tyranny of a white majority, allowing it to persist.

Frausto then wondered how we eliminate racial prejudice. Here, Frausto cited Iris Marion Young and their belief that justice is not a passive construct, but an active one. Next, Hegel’s master-slave dialectic was cited, noting that many are still fighting for recognition by dominant society. Finally, Frausto cited the Abolition of White Democracy, which argues racial structures are organized by hierarchies, power, and political discrimination. When positing solutions to eliminate this prejudice, Frausto stressed the importance of political activism, the fight of racial minorities for recognition, and more.

The last narrative critiqued was the American Dream. Frausto’s reading of the American Dream was complex, torn between the notion that it simply does not exist and its various interpretations in popular literature. For example, Frausto cited Lawrence Samuel’s The American Dream: A Cultural History, which suggests the American Dream consists of values of self-reliance, freedom, and autonomy, but also privileges success, money, and ownership.

Finally, Frausto concluded pondering cultural recognition and a culture of acceptance. Frausto stated that democracy must consider multiculturalism through solidarity, fellowship, and belonging—thus shunning the individualistic and materialistic notions embedded within the American Dream. In constructing a democratic culture of acceptance, Frausto had four points to offer:

“First, we must appreciate and understand different approaches. Second, We have to engage in dialogue with people from different backgrounds. Third, we must increase knowledge of cultural differences by publishing the history of immigrants. And finally, we have to confront policies using immigrants as scapegoats.”

The next Honors College Lecture Series will take place at the end of April.

Have you ever wondered what opportunities come with being an Honors College undergraduate fellow? Fellows gain research experience, the opportunity to work with a professor in their field, and financial compensation (just to name a few). Read more about two Honors students’ experiences with undergraduate fellowships below.

The Honors College Undergraduate Fellows Program allows students to work one-one-one with any university faculty member to conduct a research project. Honors College Dean John Emert says that fellowship opportunities hold unlimited benefits for students, both immediate and long-term.

"It prepares our students quite well for further research, distinguishing themselves from other graduates, and positions them very well for certain major national and international scholarships," Emert said. "Our scholarship winners have quite often first been Honors fellows."

For students like Lucas Clay, a senior natural resources and environmental management (NREM) major, one fellowship project has lasted for five semesters. Clay is finishing up a research project with Dr. John Pichtel that began during his sophomore year at Ball State.

"In the beginning, it was more of [Dr. Pichtel’s] project. He definitely showed me what to do, and exactly what he wanted me to do, but then left me alone in the lab. I was the sole researcher for most of the project," Clay said.

For other students, like senior vocal performance and creative writing major Valerie Weingart, the span of one year can hold two separate fellowship research projects. Weingart is currently working with Dr. Heather Platt on a music history research project, and will work alongside Professor Beth Dalton of the Honors College next semester.

"I had expressed some interest in studying history and musicology as a potential grad school thing. She is working on a project and [Dr. Platt] said if you want to get some hands on experience you can help me with the project," Weingart said.

Next semester, Weingart will work on an expansion of her Honors thesis project, which aims to incorporate opera into the Honors humanities sequence.

"Beth Dalton was my professor for the whole humanities sequence, so it's exciting to come back and work with her and hopefully have an impact on the class,” Weingart said.

Clay’s project, which he will build upon for his Honors thesis, involves studying phytoremediation--a process which uses living plants to clean up contaminated soil, air, and water--and informed his own decision to pursue a graduate degree in soil science.

“I don't think that a normal experience in the natural resources department would have led to this type of knowledge [and] this type of expertise in my field,” Clay said. “As I'm applying to grad school right now, it's really opened doors, I think, in terms of having some research experience, basically. It's also helped mold what I want to do . . . I don't think I would have gone into [soil science] had I not had this experience.”

While Weingart is preparing to pursue graduate school in creative writing, she says that her research for Dr. Platt fulfills her as both a writer and a vocalist. Over the course of the semester, Weingart will analyze newspaper articles about Marguerite Hall, a famous opera singer from the 19th century who no one has ever written anything about, and compile the first biography of the singer.

“It's so cool because I am a writer, and we create characters. This is what we do. It's like I'm meeting [Marguerite Hall] and I'm bringing her back, and it's the same process you go through when you write something creatively: you meet this characters in your mind and then you bring them to life,” Weingart said of her research.

With such abundant advantages, there are also sacrifices, as both Clay and Weingart mentioned.

“It's 10 hours of research per week, and that's hard to fit into your life,” Weingart said.

Clay says although scheduling time for research is difficult, time management skills and “forward thinking,” makes fitting in the extra research possible.

Selecting a topic which interests you will serve as an internal motivator for this undertaking, according to Clay and Weingart. Students are often given the chance to select their own topic, and can work with their faculty advisor to decide what research will entail.

“Make sure the topic is something that you find interesting and that you're passionate about because that makes it much easier to do the independent work and to be self-motivated,” Weingart said. “I look forward to it. Everyday when I go [look at] the newspapers, I wonder what I'm going to find."

Choosing to work with a professor who you have a strong relationship with can benefit both parties involved.

“Make relationships with your professors,” Clay said. “If the professors know what you're interested in and you know what they're doing in their own research fields, that might be a good chance to put two and two together and you can figure out something where you can help them with their research and they can help you with yours.”

Both The Honors College and Ball State pride themselves on providing students with immersive experiences that go beyond the traditional bounds of a classroom. Taking on a fellowship during your time as an undergraduate allows for this experiential learning. ​"Overall . . . it's just been a really immersive experience to help you learn about your field,” Clay said. “I would suggest it for any Honors College students who want to learn more beyond the classroom. I think that's absolutely huge for understanding what you're getting yourself into."

Honors College Fellowships are open to any Honors College student who has completed two semesters, completed two Honors courses, has an overall GPA of 3.33 or higher, and is eligible to work as a fellow for 10 hours per week under university guidelines. Currently, fellows are compensated an average of $1,080 per semester for their work. To apply for an Honors College Fellowship, download the application here.

SHC's once-a-semester tradition returned to give Honors students a sneak peak at the courses being offered next spring.

This Tuesday from 7:00-8:30, Student Honors Council held the Curriculum Crash Course (CCC) — one of their most recent traditions — in the Exhibition Hall at DeHority Complex. This event acts as an opportunity to give Honors students a chance to view some of the upcoming courses for next semester. With 11 different course panels to visit, some containing more than one course to inquire about, it may have been difficult to get information on everything.

The CCC offered sneak peaks on Bruce Geelhoed’s Honors 199, focusing on the history of the Ball Brothers and late 20th-century U.S. history. Other courses present were Dr. Matt Hartman’s “Reacting to the Past,” a colloquium that takes in-depth, immersive games about past movements and peoples and uses them as a teaching tool. Laurie Lindberg also featured two of her colloquiums, focusing on Sherlock Holmes and British Fantasy.

While all are worthy of a spotlight one in particular taught by Dr. Tim Berg stood out.

The HONR 390 colloquium offered by Dr. Berg will be a photo theory and philosophy course. In this course, students will explore what it is like to to live in a reality where future and past collide through photography and what it means to see through still images. This course will also allow students to try their hand at photography with no prior experience or knowledge, and Dr. Berg is more than willing to help. This is a hands-on course, but not a how-to, so having Dr. Berg as a resource is an exceptional opportunity.

You can look forward to readings such as Ways of Seeing by John Berger, Beauty by Roger Scruton, On Photography by Susan Sontag, and more.

This year, organizations also took advantage of the CCC. The Odyssey, the official Honors College literary and creative publication, had a table to discuss the submission process. This year, The Odyssey has no theme and is looking for any and all creative submissions. The Honors Peer Mentor program was also handing out brochures, advertising the opportunities possible through them.

​With the second half of the semester upon us, the CCC was a great way to learn about what is available in the spring and to meet prospective professors. If you missed it be sure to talk to your advisor for information and make those appointments!

This semester’s DeHority Has Talent was an eclectic mix of impromptu stand-up, piano covers of Radiohead, and a death drop. Cailon Nicoson brings you all the highlights below.

Last Friday night was DeHority Complex's annual variety show, "DeHority Has Talent," and if you weren't there, then you definitely missed out.

Not only was this event an opportunity for free food, which every college student is on the search for, but it was also a chance for students living in DeHority to showcase their talents.

The night featured musical talents such as guitar, ukulele and piano playing, as well as singing. There was a very memorable, soulful rendition of “I Will Survive” which everyone was extremely hyped for. Dancing, slam poetry, and even comedy were brought into the acts as well. Throughout the night there was a steady stream of karaoke, which many people joined in jamming along to. Some highlights included the Pokémon theme song and “All Star” by Smash Mouth.

The night was definitely a good way to end a stressful week of classes and allowed everyone involved to appreciate the talents of those around us. Plus, everyone knows that it's really karaoke that makes the world go round after all.

In the Student Center Ballroom, on April 26, 2017, the second ever Honors College Student Recognition Ceremony took place. The night began at 6 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge, where students to be recognized and their guests socialized for an hour until 7 p.m., when the ceremony began. I spoke with Katherine Emberton, a graduating English education major before people started to take their seats. Emberton and her guest were happy that the ceremony gives recognition to all of the hard work the seniors have done through their undergraduate career. When asked what her stand-out experience at the Honors College was, she told me the colloquium on Planet of the Apes, taught by Jason Powell, was her favorite. The ceremony honored students receiving special awards the following awards:

After these accolades were handed out, red and white rope cords were presented to every Honors College senior graduating in May, December, and June. All-in-all, it was a night for guests to see what their loved ones have achieved over the past four years. ​

The Student Center Ball was transformed last Friday as the Student Honors Council enchanted the evening. Honors College students were cordially invited to the Honors Formal, called The Stardust Ball. The evening was filled with music, dancing, and delicious hors d’oeuvres provided by the Cardinal Kitchen.

Prom dresses were removed from their plastic sleeves and suits were dusted off as students filled the ballroom, ready to have a spectacular evening.

“It was a really fun evening with friends,” Lydia Kotowski, a freshman political science and pre-med double-major, stated. “The food was also quite good.”

Not only were Honors students invited to the formal, but friends not in the Honors College could attend as well. Eric Peters, a first-year student in the College of Architecture and Planning, brought a non-Honors friend with him.

“It was a great evening to have fun with friends, especially ones that may not live on-campus or are in DeHority,” Peters said.

The minimal decorations created an impressive space that managed to charm everyone whom attended the Stardust Ball. Twinkle lights, candle lights, moss and pebbles, tulle, and wooden platters created the whimsical forest, while glittery Mason jars and golden balloons enchanted the ballroom with magic. There was even a Snapchat filter created by an SHC member that attendees could use when they posted pictures.

Kim Zinn, a freshman accounting and finance double-major, thoroughly enjoyed the evening. “The food, the music, and the decorations were wonderful! Everyone had a great time and danced the night away.”

Editor's Note: News & Notes and the Honors College do not necessarily share the views of the interviewees of this article.

For these three students Honors means getting involved in the political process.

In the first week of President Trump’s new administration, demonstrations and dissenters have been at the top of the headlines. Whether fans or foes of our nation’s new leadership, thousands across the country, and even more worldwide, have begun to mobilize. Perhaps the most notable was the global rally the day following Trump’s inauguration - The Women’s March on Washington held Saturday, Jan 21. From 30 people in Stanley, Id. (half the town’s population) to around half a million in Washington D.C., Sister Marches in over 600 U.S. cities saw an estimated attendance of 4.2 million people. This in addition to 300,000 people internationally.* At least three of those people were Ball State Honors students.

Roommates Madeleine Robling and Margo Morton, both Honors College sophomores, were presented with tickets to the march in the capital through a friend’s mother and both eagerly jumped at the opportunity to attend.

“I felt really comfortable attending after I found out the official platform. They made a point to make sure the official platform of the event was more intersectional and covered things like police brutality and criminal justice reform and different issues you might not instinctively put as a women’s issue,” Robling said.

After a ten hour car ride the pair were excited to find themselves surrounded by an electric camaraderie and enthusiastic crowd. The prospect of sharing such an amazing experience was moving for the two young women.

“Even before we got to the main part of the march, we were surrounded by people who were attending, and it was cool to see everyone so excited about it,” Morton said. “I think it was a really cool experience to be there with two of my best friends. It made me feel good to know that these important people in my life are also passionate about the things I feel strongly about.”

Anna McAtee, another Honors college sophomore, also made the journey to Washington, D.C. She recalls being packed in the D.C. Metro station with hundreds of women, men, and children, many of whom she made quick friends with, chanting and singing together as one of the highlights of the day.

“I wanted to make a voice for myself. Usually, I am very passive-aggressive and do not voice my opinion. The Women’s March on D.C. was a perfect way for me to have a positive voice in this country,” McAtee said on why she decided to attend. Like Morton and Robling, she described the crowd as electric, positive, and upbeat, once again emphasizing the magic of seeing so many people from so many different backgrounds coming together for a common cause.

“I’ve never been around so much positive energy in my life. It was one big party of love.” McAtee said.

The march started with a large cast of speakers: Congresswomen, celebrities, and movement leaders - such as the mothers of the Black Lives Matter movement. For Robling the most powerful was Kamala Harris, a senator from California. Senator Harris, who is the second black women and first ever Indian American to be elected to the United States senate, spoke on the diversity of issues that affect women. She discussed the fact that everything from education reform to the economy are women’s issues.

“It’s not just reproductive justice, it goes so much beyond that,” Robling said .

However, after nearly four hours of speakers, all three women noted that there was a tangible sense of restlessness throughout the crowd. Some ansty demonstrators in the area around Robling and Morton even began chanting “Let’s march now!” during a few of the less mainstream presenters, a disappointing moment that Robling described as callous and insensitive.

“We were listening to speeches for hours on end and where we were standing, there wasn't even a speaker, so we could barely hear,” Morton said. “I understood why people were annoyed, but they started to ignore the people talking — and those people were spreading really important messages, and I thought that was what we were all there to support.”

The march also received public backlash and negative coverage from some media outlets. Some of the criticisms cited, which came from Republicans and Democrats alike, included a singularity of issues with the right to choose being the sole focus, a lack of inclusivity—especially towards trans-women and the non-able bodied—and that the protestors were simply ‘whining’ about the results of the election. While Robling concedes that the crowd was predominantly white and there was a lot of work to be done to make the march more inclusive of other identities, she said that to boil it down to just pro-abortion and anti-Trump does the march and the momentum it created a huge disservice.

Morton emphasized again the plurality of women’s issues and the importance of leveraging her privilege as white women, saying, “Even if someone feels that they face no issues of inequality here in America, they are just one person — and there are people in this country and all over the world who are facing problems we can barely imagine. When I was at that march, I was doing it for a lot of people, across a lot of social groups.”

Robling agreed, saying, “Even though we might all be going through a slightly different form of oppression because of the new administration, we’re all there together to make sure no one was left behind.”

McAtee stressed that this wasn’t a negative or hateful march, but rather a moment of unity and solidarity.

“This was a peaceful march to show that women and men of all races still have a voice in this country,” McAtee said. “It was women and men coming together to say, ‘We are here. We welcome anyone. We care for anyone. You are not alone.’”

Overall, all three women had an amazing experience and plan to attend more marches in the future. They all also plan to remain involved locally through various forms of activism, such as calling their congressional representatives and attending local town hall events. For example, Morton is hoping to keep up with the Women’s March “10 actions for the first 100 days” campaign**, and Robling hopes to leverage her position as president of Ball State Democrats to organize students and educate others on how to continue being involved in the political process.

“It’s important to understand that a march shouldn’t be your end goal,” Robling said. “I think part of the reason that the Democratic party has been struggling in years past is because a lot of people think that marches and protests and petitions are an end goal rather than a tools for organization.”

Morton, Robling, and McAtee all encourage others to attend a march in the future if it’s something they’ve been considering. Morton’s advice would be to bring a friend, wear comfortable shoes, and do research to make sure the march and its organizers align with your goals. Robling suggests getting involved with a political organization on campus*** so that you don’t have to do it all yourself; a group will keep you informed, help you become involved, and keep you accountable she says. Getting involved on campus is also a great way to make a difference right here in Muncie if you want to help up but can’t make it to a march. McAtee says that there are multiple opportunities to connect to the community through Ball State Voluntary Services. This is how the momentum of positive change these women brought home from the march will last through the next four years.

* Crowd size statistics from Vox. Follow the hyper-link above for a more in-depth analysis.** For more information about the march, including the mission statement and the “10 actions/100 days” plan visit the website here: https://www.womensmarch.com/*** Some political organizations on campus include Ball State Democrats, Ball State GOP, The Liberty Coalition, and The Progressive Student Alliance.